A Brief Vacation

We figured out pretty quickly that we wouldn't be able to make it to Orlando by 5pm on Friday to get the keys for our new home, so we decided to stay at Doug's mother's house for a couple of days.  I'm so grateful for her hospitality, and I think she really appreciated the company.  The kids definitely appreciated the break from the car.  I was a little worried that they'd get bored and whiny because we didn't have much in the way of toys (one small bag of Legos and their car stuff), but boy, are those kids creative!  They found more ways to play with those Legos than they ever have before.  I can definitely see the upside to having less rather than more, because it really got them thinking outside the box.

Of course, they did have the DS and the laptop, but we kept that to a minimum.  They watched a little TV in the mornings, but that was it.

More Lego pictures!  Fiona created a Lego bird and Colwyn made a Lego cat (not pictured, unfortunately).  We also checked out the park nearby and the kids had a great time.  It was really cold, though, which I found surprising considering we were in Georgia.  The weather (50's and cloudy) just followed us the whole way.  It even got down into the low 30's at night.

We packed up and thoroughly cleaned up after ourselves Sunday morning to finally head down to Orlando.  Doug had to go to work on Monday, so the plan was to stay at a hotel Sunday night, then pick up the keys first thing in the morning so Doug could get to work, and I'd take the kids and pets over to the house.

We forced Grandma to take a picture with the kids, which I think came out lovely!  Then there was time for one last leaf battle before getting in the car.

Aren't leaves fun?

On The Road

Oh man.  Just a few hours into the actual work of moving and Doug and I were both saying, "That's it, we're never doing this again."  I know we said the same thing last year when we moved to Maine, that we'd never move until we were able to pay movers to do the work for us.. but obviously that didn't work out.  I guess a year was just enough time for me to forget how horrible it actually is!

Here's Colwyn in our ABF U-Pack trailer.  The guy who dropped it off was very nice, and had no problem parking it in our driveway.  It looked huge and considering the amount of stuff we had gotten rid of, I really didn't think we'd need all the space, but we ended up going over our allotted 17' of space and had to use an extra two feet.  Mom, Dad, and Kristine came up to play with the kids and help a bit both Monday and Tuesday.  I'd rather forget the awfulness, so I'm not going to talk too much about loading the truck.  It was very nice to have my family there to help, though.  I spend most of the time cleaning each room as it was emptied, and Kristine did a great job touching up the paint.  It just took forever, and there really wasn't any wiggle room in our departure time, so it was a real rush.

Around 10:30pm on Tuesday, I loaded the kids and two cats into my car and drove down to my parents' house while Doug finished up at the house.  We got the kids all set up with their air mattresses and crashed, though I couldn't fall asleep until Doug got there (around 1am or so) because I was worried he'd fall asleep and crash on the drive there.  Thankfully he made it with no problems, and even remembered to bring the dog and the other cat.

The next morning we said tearful goodbyes to my parents, swung by the hospital to say good-bye to my sister at work, then hit the Dollar Store and Target for some last minute things before leaving (somehow we forgot to pull out toys for the car ride for Niall).  With the kids set up with breakfast and toys, and the animals properly harnessed, we headed out!

I was imagining that the cats would want to sit on the front seat and I'd be able to pet them, but they preferred the floor, so we set up their cat bed down there.  They were extremely unhappy with me, but thankfully didn't yowl too much.

We stopped once on the Mass Pike for gas, then made it to the Garden State Parkway before needing to stop again.  We fed the dog, let the cats have access to the litter box (none of them used it), stretched our legs, and ate a late lunch.  Doug and I switched cars at that point because Maddy's smell was too overpowering for him.  I did a bit better, but only because I found a way to perch the air freshener in the neckline of my shirt!

We made great progress again on our second leg for the day and made it to Fredricksburg, Virginia.  We had a late dinner (Chick-Fil-A and Panda Express!) and crashed at a super cheap, pet friendly hotel.  The kids delighted in telling Mom and Dad just how crappy it was when we called, but at least it was clean.  I don't care so much about run-down if we're just sleeping there for a night.  And if we can sneak in extra pets and kids without the front desk noticing!

On Thursday, we booked it to Doug's mother's house which is just outside Atlanta.  It was a bit out of the way (added a total of four hours onto our total drive time), but we really couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit.  It was a really long day of traveling, though.  The fun thing was that the cats finally decided to move around a bit within the car, which delighted the kids.  They finally settled on cowering by Lachlann's feet.

We were relieved to finally arrive at Grandma's house at around 10pm.  We stayed up talking for a bit then zonked out in her living room.  It was so good to stretch out!

Saying Good-Bye.. Again, and Again..

The house is mostly packed, the furniture and plants we don't want to bring have been distributed elsewhere, the U-Pack trailer is getting dropped off tomorrow.. this thing is really happening, isn't it?  We've been saying a lot of good-byes in the last week, and they really haven't been getting any easier.  It's not that I want the good-byes to be over with, but having to do it over and over again is kind of rough.  We're really lucky that we've gotten to see most of our really good friends one last time to say good-bye.

Colwyn's birthday party was kind of a pre-good-bye to some of our best friends, but then we had another park day last Wednesday to say good-bye.  It was great to see everyone, but such a bummer to say good-bye.  Some of these friends are people we've known since our oldest kids were 4 years old, and some are newer friends who we've gotten to know quite well in just the last two years or so.  It doesn't really matter, though.. we're going to miss our friends so much!

Thursday was a packing day, but then on Friday, we met up with some of Fiona's new friends from New Hampshire.  Even though we haven't known them that long, Fiona was just so upset to have to leave these girls - but felt a little better when we found out that they're moving overseas in a few months.  The kids had an awesome time at the Children's Museum in Dover, though.  Again, a little bittersweet because we spent so much time there last fall/winter/spring.. but I'm sure we'll find something similar in Florida.

And today we made a sort-of final visit to the North Shore to get in some 'lasts'.  We met up with more good friends (who unfortunately had to miss the park day because they were sick) for ice cream at Richardson's.  We're going to miss these adorable boys so much, and I'm really hoping that my friendship with their amazing, fantastic, super cool mom (yes, she reads this blog, ha!) will survive with frequent phone calls.

After ice cream, we went to the library to pick up some movies that are new or semi-new to the kids for the trip.  The plan is to mail them back once we arrive in Florida.  Everyone tells me I'm silly for feeling guilty about doing that, but I dunno.. it just feels weird.  But we've got a huge stack of movies for the trip, including lots of nostalgia for me (I'm going to need something to keep me awake while driving!) - Labyrinth, Gummi Bears, Tailspin, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and a few others I'm forgetting.  Then we met up with Mom and Kristine at the cemetery for one last visit to our family plot.

I know we'll be back for visits, probably within a year.  We'll see our friends when we come back, we'll visit the cemetery and our favorite places again.  But it still feels sad when we drive past where we sit every year for the Santa parade the Sunday after Thanksgiving and the place where we sit for the Beverly Farms Horribles Parade on July 4th.  I'm just trying to remember that we were able to cope with only going to Florida once every other year, and that we'll just switch that around and have to cope with seeing our favorite Massachusetts stuff once a year.

We Have a Home!

I don't know why I thought I'd have time to blog with all the craziness that's going on around here, but I'm annoyed at myself for not getting around to it.  Let's recap:

Colwyn turned 11 and we spent the day in the Beverly area, hung out at Bonkers with my family, at had dinner at Sylvan Street Grill.  The next day, my mom threw us a going away party with our family.  We got to see my aunts Sharlean, Gail, and Asta; my cousins Sam and Alexander; my cousin Ashley, her mom and two brothers.  My great aunt Grace and her husband came by, too.  And of course, my parents and my sister.  Then the next day, Doug left to go to Florida for a week, from 10/26 to 10/31.  Let's just say that I am not meant to be a single mother.  That week was hard.  My parents came up one day to hang out, then on Thursday, we spent the day in Beverly, ending with the downtown trick-or-treating that all the businesses do.  We got home pretty late and I baked cupcakes for Colwyn's party.  Then Friday was co-op; after which we went grocery shopping, then ran home to clean and bake two cakes.  We rushed down to Beverly to have dinner with Mom and trick-or-treat around the neighborhood with Kristine, then picked Doug up at Logan.  We didn't get home until about 10:30pm, at which point I just crashed.  Saturday was Colwyn's party, so we hurriedly decorated and cooked and decorated the cake and cupcakes.  Whew.  In all that was a lot of decluttering, packing, and freaking out about the house hunt.

While Doug was in Orlando, we kept trying to set up showings of rental houses, but apparently the type of home we were looking for just flies off the market.  He ended up seeing three places, two of which were furnished.  Thankfully, we got the call this past Monday that we were approved for our first choice!

It's 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, and just shy of 3000 square feet.  Considering that we live in a 3 bed, 2 bath, 1400 square feet, old farmhouse, this is going to be a huge change.  Here's a picture of the kitchen:

But the best part is the back!  It has a lovely, caged pool with a big covered lanai.  I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this.  There's even a ceiling fan out there!

It's in Davenport, which is both a plus and a minus.  On the good side, it's very close to shopping and most importantly - Disney!  But it's about an hour commute for Doug, which is the same as what he was doing here.  I know he was hoping for a shorter commute, but we just weren't finding anything in our price range with a big pool out back closer to where he's working.

The only thing I'm really concerned about with this home is that it comes furnished.  On one hand, it's good because we were planning on leaving a lot of our furniture behind, so now we won't have to buy a lot of furniture when we get there.  But it's really not my style, so I'm worried about it not feeling like home, you know?  I'm sure we'll box up most of the decorative stuff and bedding, but there's only so much you can do about the clunky tables and headboards.  I'm pretty sure we'll go out and buy slipcovers for the couches pretty soon, too, 'cause they're just plain ugly.  But I guess ugly (but clean, in good shape) couches are better than only having one small couch and a rocking chair for the living room and massive family room, right?

Our house is about half packed.  Maybe more, but it's hard to say.  A lot of it is just hard to pack early, like clothes and the kids toys.  A lot of the kids toys we'll just move right in their storage shelves like we did last time, so I go back and forth between feeling like it's almost done and freaking out that there's so much unpacked still.

Between the logistics of the move and the sadness at saying goodbye to our friends and family, I'm so incredibly stressed out.  Doug and I are handling it relatively well, all things considered.  But it's so hard saying good-bye.  We're trying to see as many people as we can and do as many of our favorite things one last time.  We had a great last park day yesterday and saw some of our favorite friends (though some were sick, boo!).  I just hope that between Facebook, emails, and regular visits home, we won't totally lose these friends that we've had since our kids were babies.

Hiccups Galore

Nothing's ever simple, right?  I don't know why I thought a cross-country move would be.. duh!  So Doug was planning on traveling down to Orlando to attend some meetings in person the week of Halloween.  He'd also secure us housing while down there.  Well, as it turns out, they haven't been able to get that settled, so it looks like it might be the week after.. if at all?  I'm freaking out just a wee bit - how on earth are we going to find a place to live?  I seriously need to call some realtors tomorrow..

And in other, just as annoying news.. we need almost $2500 worth of car repairs.  Doug got off the phone with the garage and broke the news and I was like, "Of course we do!"  Man.

On a better note, decluttering is going well.  I gave away about 75% of my craft stash which almost killed me, but I did it!  Already culled my clothes and the littles' clothes, the boys are next, and then we get to work on the toys.  Well, I actually got started on that a bit, too.. we sorted through three bins of Legos, separated out the minifigs, and boxed up the rest.  That took care of about 15% of the kids' Legso.  They have a crazy amount, seriously.. I'm half hoping that we can leave a few boxes unpacked in the garage in Florida and they won't notice. Shhh!

We're Moving!

Doug was offered the position following his interview in September, and after some back and forth, he accepted!  He's very excited about it (working with Army Research, a boy's dream!), and I'm thrilled that we'll soon be Floridians!

There is so much to do, though, and I'm a little overwhelmed.  Doug has to be in his office in Orlando on November 17th, but he's actually starting next week; they're letting him telecommute to make our transition easier.  The last week and a half have been crazy for him at his current job as he tries to tie things up.  Colwyn's birthday is on October 24th, and my mother is throwing us a going-away get-together on October 25th, then Doug will fly to Orlando to do some face to face meetings around Halloween.  We'll be trick-or-treating at my parents' house an hour away on Halloween (whether Doug will be with us or not remains to be seen), then the next day will be Colwyn's birthday party at our house!  After that, we've got two weeks to finish packing everything up and make the big move!  I think the next month is probably going to be just a wee bit chaotic.

On top of all that, we're dealing with some sadness about the move, too.  As excited as we are about going south, we're really sad to leave our family behind.  My parents are handling the change as best as they can, but obviously they're pretty upset.  I think the only consolation is that we're not intending to stay in Florida permanently, just for a couple of years. It will depend a lot on how much we like it, of course, but I think Doug especially would love to move back up here at some point.

Change Is In The Air

For the last six months or so (maybe more), we've been talking seriously about making a big change - moving to Florida.  Since having kids, winter has become more and more unpleasant.  Despite living in New England all our lives, my kids and I are just not winter people.  This last year, we had a pretty convenient place to sled - about ten feet from our front door.  Lots and lots of pristine snow.  And guess how often the kids wanted to play outside.  Twice.  And the second time they came in pretty quickly.  They would much rather be swimming than playing in the snow.

That's how the idea of moving gained traction, but as we started looking more into it, we found many more positives.  A big one is that in Florida, we can get way more house for our money.  We've got a 1600 square foot three bedroom with many, many flaws (biggest of which are on a busy road with a 55 mph speed limit and no real usable outdoor space).  For less money, we could have a 2200+ square foot 4 bedroom with a screened, in-ground pool with a lovely covered patio for outdoor eating.

We're focusing our search on the Orlando area, partly because it's convenient to several different areas we like, it's a more liberal city compared to other areas in Florida, and yes, proximity to theme parks.  We went on vacation in early September and Doug had a great job interview while we were down there, so fingers crossed that we'll be moving this fall!